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Kidnapping of UN peacekeepers raises doubts about Syria's opposition

Kidnapping by self-declared Syrian rebels has focused sharply on the fractured opposition, and raised serious questions about the country's future if Bashar Assad is ousted.

An armed member of the Al Yarmouk Martyr brigade is seen in front of a white vehicle with 'UN' written on it at what said to be Jamla, Syria near Golan Heights on March 6, 2013 in this still image taken from video posted on social media website. (REUTERS TV / Reuters)

The kidnapping of 21 United Nations peacekeepers on the volatile Golan Heights has focused sharply on the fractured Syrian opposition, and raised serious questions about the future of the country if President Bashar Assad is ousted from power.

On Wednesday, a group calling itself the Martyrs of Yarmouk posted a video showing captured white UN vehicles containing a few blue-helmeted peacekeepers. Their message, in Arabic, — delivered by a spokesman identified as Abu Qaed al-Faleh — was as unrealistic as it was clear: “They will not be released until after Bashar Assad’s forces withdraw from the village of Jamlah bordering Israel.”

The kidnapping came as the Syrian opposition was enjoying its highest level of support from the U.S., as Britain said it would increase aid to opposition forces, and as the Arab League signalled that its members should arm the rebels.

The attack on the peacekeepers appeared to take the opposition’s Free Syrian Army by surprise. Its leader, Gen. Salim Idriss, told the BBC that he would “do everything . . . I can to liberate them.” The apparent disconnect between the central command and splinter groups has raised anxiety among the rebels’ allies.

Reaction from the international community was swift — and angry.

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The UN Security Council strongly condemned the kidnapping, and this month’s council president, Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin, urged the captors to “stop this very dangerous course of action.” The incident has made it more difficult for the West to convince Russia to take stronger action against Assad.

The unease is deeper because the UN Disengagement Observer Force patrols the demilitarized zone along Syria’s Golan border with Israel, one of the potential flashpoints in the Middle East. Austria, Croatia, India and the Philippines provide its 1,011 troops, and a source close to the UN told the Star the captured peacekeepers were likely from the Philippines.

But as battles rage in Damascus and other population centres, little attention has been paid to the Golan Heights until now. A UN peacekeeping spokesperson told the New York Times that the troops were detained near a damaged post that was evacuated after “heavy combat” near the village of Al Jamlah in Syria’s southern Daraa province.

Who are the kidnappers, and what was their motive? With a perplexing tangle of militias grouped around the opposition, the answers are still unclear.

“They are jihadists, and they want the border area,” said Joshua Landis of University of Oklahoma, an expert on Syria and longtime observer of the region. “It’s strategic for them because Israel is on the other side.”

Also, a “major push” was taking place in the south while the world’s attention focused elsewhere, he said.

“If you look at the map, you can see they are hitting different towns. The guy (in the video) said they were part of the Islamic Front. They pretend to be part of the Free Syrian Army, but you can see it’s bristling with competition and mistrust.”

On Twitter, Syria analyst Asher Berman said that the rebels identified themselves as Free Syrian Army, but “this fits with other patterns” of non-aligned groups that also often identify as Free Syrian Army.

The Yarmouk brigade first posted a video saying it was holding the peacekeepers because they were bringing water and other assistance to pro-regime forces, Berman wrote in a blog post. It was later replaced by a more conciliatory statement that said they were being held “for their own protection” and called on the UN to “safely extract them from Syria.”

“(That is) a clear indication that the brigade is responding positively to the pressure it is likely receiving from actors outside Syria, as well as fellow rebels in Daraa Province,” Berman wrote.

Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch said his group was investigating another violent incident that appears to be linked with the kidnappers.

A video posted Tuesday shows a group of Syrian soldiers detained and executed. Other videos showed rebels identifying themselves as Martyrs of Yarmouk, and the bodies of 10 men seen earlier alive.

But Bouckaert said in a phone interview that the rebels “don’t appear to be very experienced fighters. If you look closely (at the kidnapping video) you see a group of relatively young people who posted these unrealistic demands,” he said.

“I don’t think we can discount the fact that people in Syrian villages feel increasingly desperate. There’s been fierce fighting in the area and they could be looking for any way to stop the indiscriminate attacks.”

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